Filipino celebrity chef Erwan Heussaff flew to Chicago over the weekend to receive the very prestigious James Beard Award in the Social Media category. Congratulations!

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A post shared by Erwan Heussaff (@erwan)

Widely considered the equivalent of an Oscars in the culinary world, the James Beard Awards are a set of annual ceremonies within the United States recognizing exemplary people in the food, beverage and hospitality industry who exemplify the James Beard Foundation’s values of “championing a standard of good food anchored in talent, equity and sustainability.” Awards are given in 23 categories are regarded as the highest honor in American gastronomy.

Heussaff is the first Filipino to be awarded an award in the social media category, which recognizes “excellence in a single food-related post, or compilation of up to three posts, that clearly represent the intention of the the Facebook page, Twitter account, TikTok account, Instagram feed, or other social media format.” Heussaff bested fellow nominees Kalamatas Kitchen and Andrew Huang, and Ewa and Jeromy Ko of Nom Life.

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“I’m still shaking. We made it,” Heussaff wrote in an Instagram post.

“This, for me, means absolutely everything because it just motivates me further to keep shining the light on our beautiful country, our beautiful people, and the food that is made in our kitchen,' says Erwan

In his thank you speech, Heussaff said: 'Thank you to our whole crew over at TFI Studios and Featr Media our company. Thank you to my family and my beautiful wife and daughter for allowing me to travel to tough places to create stories. Anywhere you go in the world you'll meet Filipinos, especially in the food and beverage industry. In fact one of our largest revenue streams in the country are Filipinos who are working overseas, yet not a lot is known about our culture or our food. Tons of people have said 'Filipino food is the next big thing,' and I'm obsessed with trying to figure out how to make it...just the big thing. And so this for me means absolutely everything, because it just...motivates me further to keep shining a light on our beautiful country, our beautiful people, and the food that is made in our kitchens. So thank you very much. I appreciate it.'

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A post shared by FEATR (@featrmedia)

Actress Anne Curtis congratulated her husband on Instagram, 'I’ve seen how passionate you are about sharing stories of Filipino food and the culture and deeper story behind each ingredient. You and the @tfkistudios team work so hard… Traveling all over the country to find the core and masters of each dish and ingredient, whilst keeping it as authentic as possible. Congratulations on this amazing feat! I can’t wait to see more stories that are faithfully told, not only about Filipino cuisine but also about the spirit, communities and culture behind it! Mabuhay @tfkistudios @featrmedia and @erwan for being recognised by @beardfoundation.'

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A post shared by Anne Curtis (@annecurtissmith)

Heussaff received a great number of congratulatory posts on social media, but we confess our favorite comes from his brother-in-law and fellow social media celebrity Nico Bolzico who humorously said: “You won!?!?!??!?!!'

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Lead photo: @erwan